JMT Fans in India

We just heard from Auspicio F.M.Rodrigues in Goa, India. Mr. Rodrigues discovered JMT's music online through CMN and Spirit and Song. He asks if the Monk Rock tour may ever make it to his part of the world. To which I can only say: it is in God's hands.
Seriously, please write in here or through the JMT Site to let JMT and company know that you're listening and where from. JMT tours throughout the US and in recent years to Ireland too but there are plenty of places that aren't reached. I'm sure that from a Ministry standpoint John Michael would like to play everywhere. But, finances and logistics can not be ignored. Good stewardship dictates that the tour visit places that can support it. The point? If you'd like to see JMT in your town or country please let it be known and be sure to spread the word among your friends and neighbors. It could turn out that you aren't the only one and with God, all things are possible.

From a younger crew member....

You may recall that we had three young ladies from Little Portion on the road with us at the beginning of this last leg. They were a breath of fresh air to have around and a big help too! Maria Ims was kind enough to write a bit about her time out on the road with us. Here it is:

Hola! I was asked to write about what I thought about the Monk Rock Tour, but what the whole thing was about could be put into two simple words: being prepared. I knew I wasn’t as soon as I found out I was going on the tour for six days. I was way too excited. Basically, Abigail, Faith, and I just ran around doing jobs for everyone. =D Don’t get me wrong, that part was awesome! I love being busy with any sort of hands-on work. But as I was working, I noticed a lot of things, especially the way the crowd reacted to JMT’s new rock songs and how they seemed to love it. Without a doubt, everyone at those concerts could feel God’s presence. That was one thing I wasn’t prepared for. Personally, I thought that people would just scoff and leave, thinking that JMT turned to the modern “dark side”, but the result was exactly the opposite. I have to admit that I was surprised. Another thing that I wasn’t prepared for was how many fans JMT has. WOW! When I saw all those people come through those doors I was shocked. I didn’t realize that he had touched the hearts of so many people. One thing I could never forget was when I was selling CDs during one intermission and a mother with five (scary thought, huh, FIVE!) children who all loved JMT’s music. I remember looking down at the boy she had with her and the mother telling him, “Tell her what you want to be when you grow up.” He looked up at me and said with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen and answered, “A PRIEST!” ...woah. To tell the truth, I could NEVER do that myself...literally because I’m a girl, but even if I was a guy, it would take a lot of faith to do that.
FOR SURE I wasn’t prepared about how much fun it would be. Sure, I knew that I was going to be sleeping in really nice hotels, stuffing myself with food (what an image xP), and not doing school for SIX WHOLE GLORIOUS DAYS, but when I was there, I didn’ t really care about the hotels, big bags of potato chips, or me not doing school (I actually did some of my history while I was there, lol.) Those were DEFINITELY not the reasons why I enjoyed being there, I enjoyed working on my hands and knees, taping wires to the floor as neatly as I could...though they still came out sloppy (you remember that, John Cotton, don’t you? =) ) and FINALLY learning how to wrap mic cables (yay!). My only disappoint was that I didn’t learn more than I could have. If I was asked to go again, I would definitely say YES right a way (HINT HINT =)!!!), though not just for the freedom of my parents (lol), but for my service to the band members.
I just want to thank EVERYONE who put up with us during the time we were there! It was an AWESOME experience that I could never forget. Each of the guys has a relationship with God that I could only dream of having and putting them together was the most genius plan ever to be thought (...ok, maybe GENIUS is a bit much =) ) I learned a lot about being on the road and about how long driving hours can wear you down, lol. Thank you for making me laugh so much! Let me tell ya, those guys are hilarious!!! PEACE!
Mia Ims

Beautiful City Review

On Phantom Toolbooth-

Where so many of us may have seen nothing but chaos and destruction, John Michael Talbot sees a beautiful city.

More from Booth......

Home sweet home - as great as it was to tour with JMT, Terry Talbot and band, it is fantastic to be home again. It is wonderful to be able to share the gospel, and to play music while doing so. But my vocation is to marriage, and my greatest responsibility is to be a Father to my three beautiful children. The "road" is a trip to the front lines -Going to people's places of worship and dialoging, both musically and otherwise after the evening is done. People are tired "out there". The hurricanes, the gas prices and the fear of the ongoing war on terror is palpable in the people we play for. We need the good news more than ever. When JMT plays the banjo, and Terry sings about all the "stuff" we are possessed by, I can see that people are moved to pray, to laugh, to clap along and to have a little fun. Yes, we get "serious" and we pray deeply, but John's new MONK ROCK material gives people a chance to sit back and hear a guitar played really well and maybe just smile a little. I, myself, love singing two new songs from my UNRAVEL CD and then having JMT and Joe Hand join me for "Here I Am". Our percussionist/drummer, John Martin, is a show all by himself. He is a wonderfully talented "dude" and a hit with the crowds. But like St. Paul and John Paul II, journeys always lead to home. And that is where I want to be for the next three months until the tour goes to Florida in February. Check out SpiritandSong.com for other news and highlights, and be sure to check our schedule on JohnMichaelTalbot.com. Blessings!

Thar u go...

peace,

tcb

Leg finished

Well the Monk Rock Tour is on hiatus until 2006 now. The bus has gone back to Nashville. The truck back to Springfield and all the gear safely stowed away at the Monastery. I've returned safely to Buffalo. Joe Hand by this time is on a plane bound for Australia (that boy never stops working). John Martin headed back to California and Cerro Negro and Tom Booth back to his family in Arizona. By the way Tom's new Greatest hits album should be coming out before Christmas. Terry is preparing for a move back to California and of course John Michael and Viola are settling back in at the monastery.
For all of you who came to see the concerts, Thank You! Please tell your friends across the country (unless of course you hated it:-). In particular I am personally very grateful to al you sponsors, volunteers, crew members and any one else who helps to put this event on from day to day. We truly could not do it without you!
I have a few more pictures to post and I'm hoping to get some parting shots from the guys so stay tuned here for a bit and feel free to send in your tour related questions as well.

what is JMT using as far as electric guitars, amps and effects?

This question came in from Jerry F. On tour JMT is using a Matchless C30 head with the matching 1x12 cabinet as well as a PodXT. The Matchless head lives on stage right next to John Michael. The cabinet lives offstage in an isolation box that I built custom for this purpose. The ISO box has a microphone inside connected to an external jack which gets fed to me at the house console. The Pod comes to me direct from its line out. The Pod is primarily a backup in case we have an amp problem but I sometimes mix it in with the Matchless. JMT's pedal board has a bunch of stuff on it but the primary devices are a compulator, standard blues driver, modded blues driver and a delay (I don't recall which right now). On this leg John Michael played primarily his Telecaster (with pull string mod) and, for Beautiful City, the Gretsch White Falcon mentioned earlier in the blog. Hope that's a start Jerry! Perhaps at a later date I'll document JMTs effect setup with a little more detail. To tell the truth though, he could play straight through his little Victoria practice amp and it would still sound great.

Some things can't be blogged.......

Well we had a good concert in Houston last night. Arrived earlier this evening in Little Rock. The boys & I had dinner at a Japanese Sushi/Steak place followed by some decompression in the hotel bar where we decided that "Some things just can't be blogged":-)
Looking foward to a great concert here in Little Rock tomorrow.

Questions?

Every now and then I get questions from audience members about various things. Equipment, Instruments, the Bus, booking etc. If any readers out there want to ask anything about JMT's tours please email me at johnblog@earthlink.net. I'll do my best to either answer myself or seek a correct answer elsewhere. I'll post questions and answers here on the blog as long as they're appropriate.

Waco

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday saw us in Waco, Texas. Monday evening saw most of us in the hotel bar for a small feast along with an obligatory footbal break. Tuesday was a quiet day off for the most part. I got to do some walking (my favorite road pastime) around downtown Waco and I was able to visit the theatre a day early. Joe hand snuck off to visit the Branch Davidian site.
Tuesday evening we went to Mass at the Catholic Student Center at Baylor University then went out for some great chinese food with a bunch of students and staff.
The Waco Hippodrome is a great, if worn, old theatre originally built in 1914. The concert Wednesday was great. The band played well and had to work extra hard to keep their vocals tight as we had no choir. There was a group of unsupervised teens in the balcony stirring things up a bit. But I think even they got into the concert after a while. My advice to all you potential promoters out there: avoid reserved seating like the plague and never open the balcony until you've filled the orchestra.
Sadly, our San Antonio show has been cancelled. These things happen some times. I will say that if you're planning on attending a concert do buy your tickets in advance. If everyone waits to buy them at the door it really puts a lot of strain on the sponsor & parish.
See ya'll in Houston.

Update from JMT

Click here to read JMT's latest update from the road.

Monk Rock makes Croatia ????

The stuff you find via Google...
Croatian blog entry about Monk Rock.

Hallettsville, Texas

Just looking at it you wouldn't think it's much of a venue. The stage is too high. The ceiling too low. Generally worn out. Let's face it, the K of C hall was built for functionality not aesthetics. :-) But it made me kind of nostalgic for all the firemen's halls, American Legion Posts, and empty bowling alleys I used to work in. I walked in today and immediately began to sense that I was going to have a good time. JMT and band put on a great concert and it sounded pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The crew of volunteers got us out neatly and quickly. We like that!
This young woman is breaking rule number one on the crew. Never, ever, wrap a cable around your elbow!

Road Quotes

A couple more notable quotes:
Back before we left Little Portion John Martin was heard to say: "I'm lethargic and I've lost my shoes".

John Michael recently noted, I'm told in something of a haughty accent: "I am a child of the Prairie". :-)

Westlake High

A good concert tonight despite a handful of little problems. It seemed through the day that something new went wrong every few minutes. Computer problems, interference with in ear monitors, guitar amps knocked over,rampcoming off the truck. I'll leave it to you to to decide if this is just happenstance or the deliberate effort of opposing forces. Still, a good night. A nice venue with a good crew of young high school students studying production. Pretty good in house light & sound rigs to use. Easy load in. I used the upstage cyc and added some color tonight, not something I do often. It gets pretty busy trying to call all those light cues while I'm mixing. Tomorrow's an early show, 5pm. Oy Ve! Just when we're getting a schedule going, a matinee!

Another good one of Terry & John Martin during I Saw The Light

JMT with the Choir during Holy is His Name

Blog from Booth

The MONK ROCK Tour has been a blessing - really cool too. John Michael
and Terry have so much to teach us "younger" artists (I barely qualify
for that anymore). John Martin (drums/percussion) and Joe Hand (bass)
are also a joy to work with, and John Cotton, our sound guy, is "the
bomb". He can fix anything and does so with the humble spirit of
Christ. Me? I'm just glad to be here and trying to do the will of God -
playing music for his glory and sharing Christ's love with our
wonderful audiences. My favorite moment so far? Watching John Michael
play the banjo, listening to the audience whistle with me during
"Unravel" and eating beef jerky on the bus (teriyaki rules!). Actually,
singing "Here I Am" with John Michael and Joe Hand is my favorite
moment - simply praying and singing. If you get a chance, come see us!
Maybe I'll give you a free "Monk Rock" Tour hat if you mention this blog! Ed. Note: better take that one up with Viola Tom. :-)
Seriously. But bring me a small bag of beef teriyaki jerky and you may
get a CD too! Peace and blessings, Tom Booth (11/5/05)

Tom singing Unraveled

Edmond, Oklahoma

We had our first concert of this leg last niight in Edmond, Oklahoma. The audience was truly enthusiastic. The band and crew were not entirely happy with our respective performances but the crowd didn't seem to mind. If you were present and dissappointed by the lack of a second encore song I apologize. It was in fact my fault. I was distracted and didn't unmute the microphone for JMT's guitar so he was unable to play. To be truthful, it was a pretty long night for everyone by that point. I shall endeavor to do a beter job for all. :-)
Tonight we play at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. We're all looking forward to a great concert.
JMT Playing his Gretsch White Falcon on Beautiful City
Some Flamenco style handclaps on the new arrangement of Advent Suite

Beautiful City

John Michael's written a new song about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans called Beautiful City. It's available for download at the JMT online store. The $0.99 purchase goes to Mercy Corps to support hurricane relief. I have to say, I love this tune. The guys were out on the bus rehearsing it this afternoon and it sounds great! It's gonna be even better live than the recording.

Xtra road crew

We've got some extra hands for the first few days this trip. Faith, Abigail & Maria are daughters from two of the Monastic Families at Little Portion Hermitage. They'll be with us until Hallettsville, Texas to get a good look at what life is like in a touring ministry. Their first lesson? Riding the bus can actually be quite boring. :-)

Almost gone....

The truck's loaded and the bus is here. We got the same bus and the same driver (David) as last trip. A small miracle of consistency. Amen. Tomorrow we ride. See you in Oklahoma.
JTC